Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives Third edition

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Marc Notes: In this work, Marcel Danesi employs the lens of history to explore the relationship between popular culture's content and the means by which it is delivered. The third edition features new chapters on the commercial context of pop culture and explicitly focused on digital culture, as well as exercises and discussion prompts to deepen understanding. Table of Contents: Preface 1What Is Pop Culture? Defining Pop Culture Origins and Spread Pop Culture, Material Culture, and Technology Features of Pop Culture Studying Pop Culture 2Explaining Pop Culture Communications Models Critical Theories Psychological and Sociological Theories Semiotic Approaches Transgression Theories 3The Business of Pop Culture The Market for Pop Culture The Pop Culture Industry Fad Culture Celebrity Culture A Model 4Popular Print Culture Books Newspapers Magazines Comics 5Radio Culture Radio Broadcasting Radio Genres The Radio Stage The Importance of Radio in Pop Culture History 6Pop Music The Advent of Pop Music Social Change Dissent Pop Music in the Internet Age 7Cinema and Video Motion Pictures Postmodernism The Blockbuster Video Culture Cinema in the Internet Age 8Television Television Broadcasting The Comedic and the Real Television as a Social Text Effects TV in the Internet Age 9Advertising and Branding Advertising Ad Culture Branding Advertising in the Internet Age 10Pop Language What Is Pop Language Slang Spelling Style Textspeak 11Online Pop Culture Back to McLuhan The Online Stage Social Media Memes YouTube 12Forever Pop The Show Must Go On Pop Culture Spread Pop Culture in the Global Village Will Pop Culture Survive? Exercises and Discussion Glossary References and Further Reading Online Resources IndexBiographical Note: Marcel Danesi is professor of anthropology, semiotics, and communication theory at the University of Toronto. Review Quotes: With clear organization and easily understandable content, this third edition does a great job of explaining popular culture. It is an excellent introduction and provides solid context for more specialized study; I would certainly recommend it to anyone teaching a popular culture course, or who addresses the topic in their other courses.--Janet McMullen, University of North AlabamaReview Quotes: An excellent introduction to the ideas, terminologies, and modes of analysis integral to approaching media from a cultural studies perspective. The book is engaging, easy to understand, and within that wonderful range of being challenging but not out of reach.--Robert Rabe, Marshall UniversityReview Quotes: Articulate, intelligent, and very readable; this straightforward text forms a perfect backbone for any popular culture course. Danesi takes a generous and balanced approach to high, low, and mid cultures and their products and artifacts. Readers will appreciate how he opens the door to discussion of a complex topic.--Tim Blackmore, University of Western OntarioPublisher Marketing: Pop culture surrounds us. Its products are the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and the books we read; they are on our televisions, phones, and computers. We are its fickle friend, loving to hate it and hating to love it. But what, exactly, is it? Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives tackles that question by exploring our human desire for meaning and the ways that popular culture embodies meaning. In this core text, Marcel Danesi delves into the social structures that have led to the emergence and spread of pop culture, showing how it validates our common experiences and offering a variety of perspectives on its many modes of delivery into our everyday lives. The third edition features two new chapters: one on the commercial context of pop culture, and another explicitly considering digital culture. New exercises and discussion prompts serve to deepen understanding, while updated examples connect with the current generation of students.

Contributor Bio:  Danesi, Marcel Marcel Danesi is Professor of Semiotics and Anthropology at the University of Toronto. He has been a visiting professor at Rutgers University (1972), The University of Rome "La Sapienza" (1988), the Catholic University of Milan (1990), and has given lectures throughout the academic world. He has also authored and co-authored many books on learning Italian and Spanish, including Learn Italian the Fast and Fun Way and Italian Now! (Barron's). He is a native of Italy.